Closure
by sentbyfools
Summary: Emma's out patrolling the streets before she heads home when a car pulls up beside her. The windows are darkened so she doesn't realize the danger until it's too late and he's already stepping out of the car.


**Title: **Closure

**Summary: **Emma's out patrolling the streets before she heads home when a car pulls up beside her. The windows are darkened so she doesn't realize the danger until it's too late and he's already stepping out of the car.

**Notes: **For as-milady-commands who prompted me "Neal kisses Emma but she feels nothing, Hook kisses Emma and she feels". Special thanks to ladyfirefly for reading this over for me!

* * *

Emma's out patrolling the streets before she heads home when a car pulls up beside her. The windows are darkened so she doesn't realize the danger until it's too late and he's already stepping out of the car.

"Emma," Neal says, walking towards her with a nervous smile on his face.

Emma steps back, nearly tripping over her feet in her haste to move away.

**Neal.** Neal is here. Neal is here in Storybrooke.

"Fuck," she says.

"Emma," he says again. She puts a hand up, stopping him in his tracks.

"What are you doing here, Neal?"

She doesn't mean for the words to come out so hostile, but _what the hell is he doing here?_

"I heard - I got a postcard," he says. His smile fades more and more the longer he looks at her.

"A postcard?" Emma says, surprised by how shrill her voice sounds.

He shakes his head and then says, "You broke the curse. I knew you would."

Emma's mouth falls open into an 'o' of surprise. How could Neal have known? It was impossible. Emma didn't even know about the curse until a year ago. How...

"All this time," she starts and stops. Her voice has gone soft. Stronger this time, she says, "All this time, you knew. You let me go to prison. You abandoned me. You _knew_!"

Her words end on an almost-shout and she points an accusatory finger at him. He has the decency to look ashamed, but that isn't enough for Emma. His shame will never be enough.

"Every day, Emma," he says, words a plea. "I wanted to call you every day. To visit you, to see you. I never wanted to hurt you, but I was in your way. I was stopping you from fulfilling your destiny so I needed to leave. August and I agreed - "

"August," Emma spits out the name, the pieces of the puzzle falling into place. "August told you to send me to prison."

Neal looks at her with sad eyes. "It was the only way."

"Fuck you, it was the only way!"

She opens her mouth to speak again but finds she has no words. The anger is overwhelming, all her past pain and heartache breaking past her carefully built walls and threatening to consume her. She fists her hands at her sides. For one brief, terrible moment she fingers the gun in her holster and thinks about pulling it out. The thought of Henry stops her before the idea even begins to take form, and the image of his smiling face brings her back to herself.

She looks at Neal and says, "Why did you come here?"

He fiddles with his hands. "I came here for you."

Emma lets out a laugh, looking down at the sidewalk beneath her feet as if it held more interest than the current conversation.

"It's over, Neal," she says.

"Emma, look at me," Neal begs. Emma acquiesces, turning her gaze back to him.

"It's not over for me," Neal says, and grasping her face in his hands, he kisses her.

Emma would like to say that she feels something when his lips touch hers. She had loved Neal. She would've gone to Tallahassee with him and settled down. She would've been happy. But the Emma who felt that way for him, the Emma who trusted and loved him is long gone. All his kiss does is prove that she is never coming back. Emma lets him kiss her, and feels nothing.

He pulls away finally and all Emma can say is, "It's over, Neal."

He looks like he might cry and somehow, despite what he did, she manages to feel some sympathy for him. It isn't anywhere enough for her to change her mind though.

"I have to go," she says, "and you should, too."

He takes in a deep sucking breath and says with resignation, "That's probably for the best."

"Goodbye, Emma," he says sadly.

"Goodbye, Neal," she says with finality. Turning, she walks away and doesn't look back.

* * *

Footsteps sound behind her and Emma sighs. She thought Neal had gone, but apparently not. She turns around to tell him to leave, but it isn't Neal standing behind her. It's Killian - _Hook_. They've been circling around each other for weeks now, him disappearing and reappearing at random, only sticking around long enough to get thoroughly underneath her skin.

"What do you want?" she says. It isn't exactly like she doesn't want him around, but seeing Neal has made her even more snappish than usual.

"Who was that, lass?" he says. There is an ice in his tone that makes Emma frown.

"He was no one," she says. When he just stares at her with his piercing eyes, Emma looks away and says, "No one at all."

He lets out a sharp laugh, a cruel sound. "He didn't look like no one to me when he had his mouth on yours and you weren't pushing him away."

"Why do you care?" she demands, locking her gaze with his again. "Don't you have better things to do than to bother me?"

"Why would I want to be anywhere else?" he says seductively, walking closer to her until they are inches apart. Emma doesn't back away, and isn't it funny that his presence makes her want to run away less than Neal's? She'd never thought that she'd ever see the day where she preferred Captain Hook's company.

"Who _was_ that?" Hook says again.

"Why do you _care_?" Emma repeats defiantly.

He lets out a soft curse and throws his hands up in the air. "Must you always be so difficult?"

"It's in my nature," she replies cheekily.

They stare at each other in silence for a long moment, the only sound their breathing. Finally, Emma cracks. Somehow she always does around Hook.

"His name is Neal, and like I said before, he's no one to me. Not anymore."

"Oh," Hook says and gets such an intense look on his face that Emma blurts out, "Did you think - were you jealous?"

Hook laughs quickly. Too quickly. Emma presses a hand to her face. This night just keeps getting better and better.

"You _were _jealous!" she exclaims. "This is just - fantastic!"

"I wasn't jealous." He frowns at her. "I was just worried. Not all men are as gentlemanly as me."

"Right. You're right, he's no gentleman. A gentleman would never have done what he did to me," she says, tasting the bitterness of her hurt again.

"So, he was the man who broke your heart," Hook says, taking her hand in his.

She doesn't shake off his touch, finding a comfort in it that she wouldn't have thought possible weeks, even days ago. She nods. There isn't any point in denying it.

"Bastard," Hook says dismissively, inching closer to her and leaning down.

Emma knows what his intentions are, but she does nothing to stop it. When his lips touch hers, she sighs into the kiss. Now this kiss, _this_ feels right. With Neal she had felt nothing. With Hook, Killian...she feels like she can fly. She pulls him closer with one hand, using the other to run her fingers across his cheek as he deepens the kiss. She drags her tongue across his and savors the taste of him. How could Neal ever compare to this? Nothing could compare to this.

When he finally pulls away, Emma struggles to breathe.

"It's about bloody time," he murmurs, and then he kisses her again.


End file.
